For a long time, the choice facing Romanian companies seeking to decarbonize their operations seemed simple, even binary: solar or wind? The question was repeated across boardrooms and procurement teams, always framed as a trade-off — cost versus output predictability, ease of installation versus capacity. But today, that way of thinking no longer holds. As Romania’s renewable energy market becomes more mature and the stakes of energy procurement grow higher, the smartest corporate buyers are no longer choosing between the two technologies. They are combining them.
The hybrid portfolio approach — blending wind and solar energy in a coordinated procurement strategy — is rapidly becoming the new standard for forward-looking industrial consumers. This shift is not about fashion or innovation for innovation’s sake. It is a calculated response to price volatility, operational needs, and rising ESG expectations. And at the core of this transition stands the growing realization that no single source can deliver the balance, resilience, and long-term value that companies now require.
Drawing from its extensive experience in structuring large-scale renewable energy contracts across Central and Eastern Europe, Rezolv Energy has been instrumental in helping Romanian clients design procurement strategies that match their consumption profile and meet their ESG requirements. Milan Kamaryt, who leads PPA origination at Rezolv, captures the considerations many energy buyers are weighing up: “We are seeing increasing demand from customers for a balanced mix of both wind and solar”.
Why complementarity matters more than choice
One response is to sign multiple PPAs from different energy sources. For example, the Deutsche Telekom Group signed three 12-year virtual PPAs with Rezolv Energy covering 100 GWh of wind power annually, sourced from Rezolv’s VIFOR wind farm in Buzău County. The company was specifically looking for a large-scale wind PPA due to the so-called “cannibalization effect” in solar markets — where an oversupply of solar production during midday hours leads to depressed market prices – and because it did not match the company’s energy consumption patterns. With limited installed wind capacity in the home markets of two of the Group’s leading companies (T-Mobile Czech Republic and Slovak Telekom), Deutsche Telekom turned to Romania to sign the wind PPA they needed.
Based on the same considerations, another Rezolv customer took the opposite approach. Ardagh Glass Packaging-Europe, an operating business of Ardagh Group, signed a 12-year virtual solar PPA with Rezolv’s St. George PV project in Bulgaria. For Ardagh, securing 110 GWh of solar power per year made sense because they had already secured a supply of wind power in Sweden.
Other companies, will opt for a different solution : build a hybrid portfolio. Use wind energy to stabilize costs during winter months and night-time hours, while selectively integrating solar — either on-site or via future off-site contracts — to cover daytime peaks and high summer loads.
This hybrid model answers a number of critical business concerns in one integrated strategy. It mitigates price risks more effectively than a single-technology contract. It provides a more reliable match to the company’s real consumption profile. And it enhances the credibility of sustainability reporting by demonstrating a strategic, not symbolic, commitment to renewables.
Hybrid portfolios as financial and ESG risk management tools
From a financial perspective, the advantage lies in diversification. While a wind-based PPA ensures lower and more predictable prices in periods when wholesale electricity markets often spike — such as cold winters or early evenings — solar energy delivers value during high-demand daytime periods, especially in the summer. Combined, they reduce the need for expensive spot-market purchases and help companies smooth their cost curves across the year.
There is also a growing awareness of the “cannibalization effect”. Companies that rely too heavily on solar-only contracts risk being caught in this dynamic, especially as more solar projects come online. Wind, which operates under different generation patterns, offers a natural hedge against this effect and balances the hourly profile of the overall energy mix.
Operationally, the complementarity between wind and solar also improves supply security. Each technology responds differently to weather conditions and seasonal variability. When combined, they offer greater reliability and reduce the likelihood of simultaneous underperformance. This is especially relevant for manufacturing operations that run continuous processes or have critical infrastructure needs.
From an ESG standpoint, hybrid portfolios strengthen the integrity of sustainability claims. As external scrutiny intensifies — from auditors, financial institutions, customers, and regulators — it is no longer sufficient to demonstrate that a company has purchased a certain volume of renewable energy. Increasingly, stakeholders are examining the how: the sourcing structure, the additionality of the energy contracted, and the alignment with actual consumption patterns. A well-designed hybrid strategy signals long-term thinking and a serious commitment to decarbonization.
As Milan Kamaryt emphasized, “Industrial consumers in Romania often receive multiple solar PPA offers, but wind offers a more favorable hedge against market volatility.”
Strategy and execution: What Romanian companies must consider
Implementing such a strategy, however, is not plug-and-play. It requires a deep understanding of the company’s energy use, technical constraints, and financial objectives. It demands contract models that are flexible, scalable, and adapted to the Romanian market context — including the evolving regulatory framework around Guarantees of Origin, which is expected to integrate with the European EECS platform starting in 2027.
Rezolv Energy emphasizes the importance of advance planning and cross-functional collaboration. Energy procurement decisions are no longer the sole domain of technical teams. They touch on finance, legal, sustainability, and strategic management. Each company must find the right balance between physical infrastructure constraints, risk appetite, and ESG ambition. What’s clear, however, is that the answer rarely lies in a single source.
The hybrid model, once seen as a complex option reserved for multinational corporations, could become the norm for Romanian industry. With the right partners and a clear roadmap, local companies now have access to the tools and expertise needed to deploy such strategies efficiently and competitively.
As formulated by Marc Fevre, Legal Counsel at Rezolv Energy, “There’s no one-size-fits-all solution, so developers that have both wind and solar in their portfolio have a big advantage as they can help customers combine long-term PPAs with flexible structures and hybrid procurement to manage risk and meet ESG goals.”
The Romanian renewable energy landscape is expanding — with more projects under development, more contract models on the table, and more buyers stepping into long-term commitments. In this context, choosing between solar and wind no longer makes sense. The true value lies in building portfolios that are robust, adaptive, and tailored to real-world needs.
As Rezolv’s experience shows, the future of corporate energy buying in Romania is not about picking sides — it’s about composing harmony between different sources. And in that harmony lies the key to long-term resilience, cost stability, and credible decarbonization.